Look at the cast and crew for this one and you'll understand why Japanese cinema fans get a boner over this movie – and rightfully so! With Sonny Chiba, Toshiro Mifune, and the omnipresent Tetsuro Tamba all get in front of the camera for this one, lensed by the late, great Kinji Fukasaku – all household names for those in the know. But does Swords Of Vengeance (better known as The Fall Of Ako Castle and recently released on the grey market under that very same title) live up to its potential? Well… yes and no.

One of numerous big screen adaptations of a Japanese folk story known as The Forty Seven Ronins, the film begins the night before the fifth Shogun, Tsuna Yoshi, is to take power. A nobleman named Lord Kira gets into an argument with another nobleman named Lord Anaso and when Asano is insulted, attacks Kira cutting his chest and face but not killing him outright. Asano and Kira are taken before the Shogun to be judged, and Asano is sentenced to death by Hari Kiri while Kira, who is equally responsible for the fight in the first place, is let go. To add insult to injury, the Shogun also declares that Ako Castle, the home base of Asano's clan, be dismantled and that the clan be shut down. The Shogun, of course, will be only too happy to usurp the clan's wealth and property – after all, he is the Shogun.

Obviously, Asano's Clan, the Ako warriors, are none too pleased by this turn of events and they don't do a very good job at all of hiding their anger. They feel, justly so, that the Shogun is being unfair in his judgments and that his punishments are far too severe. Rather than take his judgment laying down like most people would, they decide to take up arms and Asano's loyal assistant, Oishi, leads a small army of forty seven masterless Samurai against the Shogun in order to set things right.

More often than not, when Sonny Chiba himself is choreographing the swordplay and action sequences, you know you're in for a treat at least in terms of the moments where combat is the focus of the film. Swords Of Vengeance is no exception to that rule of thumb, and there are a few stand out moments in this film where the fight choreography and swordplay is absolutely gorgeous (watch for the large scale attack set outdoors against the pure white backdrop of freshly fallen snow as a highlight).

Fans of the assembly of talent on hand for this film will likely have already seen The Yagyu Conspiracy, another historical samurai epic using many of the same key actors also directed by Fukasaku and comparisons to that film are inevitable and it's those same comparisons that hurt this film. Let me state, for the record, that Swords Of Vengeance is a very good film. The action scenes, the widescreen cinematography, the killer tough guy performances and the sets are all top notch and really show what these guys were capable of in their prime. However, Swords Of Vengeance is not The Yagyu Conspiracy and it's not as good as The Yagyu Conspiracy and with so many similar elements between the two films it becomes very difficult not to compare them to one another and in turn find this one to be the lesser of the two films. It's almost a shame that this film isn't appreciated more than it is, as it will probably forever be resting in The Yagyu Conspiracy's shadow, but the pacing just isn't as solid, the fight scenes not quite as good, and the story not quite as intense.

With that out of the way, Swords Of Vengeance still has loads to offer Samurai film fans so let's focus a little more on the positive aspects of which there are plenty. Toshiro Mifune turns in an amazing performance as the Shogun's loyal lap dog and when he's on screen, as is the norm for his roles, all eyes are on Mifune. His commanding presence is as strong as always and even in this, a later era film (his body of work stretches all the way back to the late 1940s), he's an intimidating presence. Despite the fact that Adness hasn't labeled this release as part of their Sonny Chiba Collection, the bad man from Japan has a supporting role in the form of Kazuemon Fuwa, an ostracized member of Anaso's clan. Although his role isn't a large one in terms of screen time , it's an important one in terms of plot devices and Chiba once again proves more than capable in front of the camera. The late Kinnosuke Nakamura makes for an enthusiastic and likeable lead hero, and it stands up nicely against the many other performances he's turned in for the numerous Samurai films he made in the sixties and seventies.

As always, Fukasaku's direction is solid and dependable and the cinematography is excellent and on par with the rest of the film. Had The Yagyu Conspiracy never existed in the first place this one would likely be looked towards more frequently – as it stands that's not the way things turned out, however, what we're left with are two similar films, both of excellent quality, both of which are now on DVD in North America for the first time to be enjoyed and savored as the quality pieces of Japanese cinema that they are.

Video:

Swords Of Vengeance is released on region one DVD with a very nice 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that maintains the film's original theatrical aspect ratio (it was shot in Toeiscope!). Unfortunately, although the picture is almost completely free of dirt and debris and edge enhancement and mpeg compression artifacts are kept firmly in check, the transfer has not been flagged for progressive scan playback and because of this there might be some motion blurring visible depending on what kind of equipment you're watching the movie on, or if you're watching it on a computer's DVD-Rom drive. That issue aside, the image is very nice, but the motion blurring is hard to look past if your gear is susceptible to it.